Go here to make candied orange peel. I used the peel of 2 oranges. and 1 lemon.
I am not a big fan of the citron that you buy chopped up in cartons so I substitute a some
lemon peel and orange peel.
One of the tricks is I boil the peel in 1 cup of water with 1/2 cup sugar and just simmer it down to a syrup.
Then blend in the syrup and orange peel.
I like to grind my own spices. So adding to the cinnamon and cloves I added
1/4 tsp Allspice
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Anise
1 tablespoon ground Ginger
(I could have used fresh ginger but I didn't have it on hand)
I sifted the spices with the flour, brown sugar, baking powder (or baking soda)
This is a good idea because it gets the lumps out of the brown sugar.
Instead of using just brown sugar to sweeten the Lebkuchen I use 4 items;
1 and 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup molasses
the orange peel and syrup I boiled it in.
the rest of my wet ingredients;
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
4 medium eggs
In a separate bowl add the honey and molasses then blend in the eggs.
Add the candied orange peel and syrup
Next blend in the flour
1 cup at a time.
Till there is a nice smooth batter.
Now You can decide to add the walnuts or almonds. I recommend it highly. The bread, spices
and nuts work together perfect! I added chopped walnuts.
Blend them into the batter and then fill a 9 x 13 baking dish. If you have a smaller one like I did, it makes
it a thicker "bread-cake".
For a thinner Lebkuchen bake it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.
For a thicker one I let it go 45 minutes to an hour, turning it down to
325 degrees after 30 minutes.
Let it cool for an hour and then ice
I made an icing of
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice.
Here I served it on a bed of whipped cream. I cut the cake into 12 rectangles then I took
1 piece and cut it into 3 slices.
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